Recap

Getting better, not quite there

The Dirty Reds reserve grade side lifted from last week’s loss against Royals but weren’t able to get the better of Uni Norths, losing by 33-19.

Running true to form, each of the Goulburn v Owls reserve grade matches over the last four years have gone to the home team.

There was a huge improvement by the Dirty Twos from their performance against Royals, but there’s still a little way to go.

For a number of the players, this is their first crack at senior rugby. The initial learning curve can be quite steep but there are already many signs of improvement.

Overall defence was much better this match, and while the Owls did score most of their points out wide that was more a matter of the Twos needing to get their numbers right and shuffling to match the opposition. That will come if they train as a unit.

But front on and in-close defence was quite strong and the side improved the longer the game went.

A promising show of character from the Twos was that they didn’t fold when the score started slipping away and put in a stronger second half. Not a win for the Dirty Twos, but a strong effort and another step towards the side they can become.

Best and Fairest points went to Josh Hannan (3), Josh Guymer (2) in hgis first game with the Reds this season, Michael McKillop (1) and Jeff Caldwell (1). McKillop was also named Players Player.

Uni Norths 33 bt Goulburn 19 (Aidan Greaves, Michael McKillop, Stefan Gerakois tries, Ben Todkill and Jeff Caldwell conversions).